July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.

He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.

He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.

He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pre-tended Offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:

He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy of the Head of a civilized Nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

A Rebellious Nation

2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!For the Lord has spoken:“I reared children and brought them up,but they have rebelled against me.3 The ox knows its master,the donkey its owner’s manger,but Israel does not know,my people do not understand.”

4 Woe to the sinful nation,a people whose guilt is great,a brood of evildoers,children given to corruption!They have forsaken the Lord;they have spurned the Holy One of Israeland turned their backs on him.

5 Why should you be beaten anymore?Why do you persist in rebellion?Your whole head is injured,your whole heart afflicted.6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your headthere is no soundness—only wounds and weltsand open sores,not cleansed or bandagedor soothed with olive oil.

7 Your country is desolate,your cities burned with fire;your fields are being stripped by foreignersright before you,laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.8 Daughter Zion is leftlike a shelter in a vineyard,like a hut in a cucumber field,like a city under siege.9 Unless the Lord Almightyhad left us some survivors,we would have become like Sodom,we would have been like Gomorrah.

10 Hear the word of the Lord,you rulers of Sodom;listen to the instruction of our God,you people of Gomorrah!11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?” says the Lord.“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,of rams and the fat of fattened animals;I have no pleasurein the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.12 When you come to appear before me,who has asked this of you,this trampling of my courts?13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!Your incense is detestable to me.New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivalsI hate with all my being.They have become a burden to me;I am weary of bearing them.15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,I hide my eyes from you;even when you offer many prayers,I am not listening.

Your hands are full of blood!

16 Wash and make yourselves clean.Take your evil deeds out of my sight;stop doing wrong.17 Learn to do right; seek justice.Defend the oppressed.[a]Take up the cause of the fatherless;plead the case of the widow.

18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,”says the Lord.“Though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow;though they are red as crimson,they shall be like wool.19 If you are willing and obedient,you will eat the good things of the land;20 but if you resist and rebel,you will be devoured by the sword.”For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

21 See how the faithful cityhas become a prostitute!She once was full of justice;righteousness used to dwell in her—but now murderers!22 Your silver has become dross,your choice wine is diluted with water.23 Your rulers are rebels,partners with thieves;they all love bribesand chase after gifts.They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;the widow’s case does not come before them.

24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty,the Mighty One of Israel, declares:“Ah! I will vent my wrath on my foesand avenge myself on my enemies.25 I will turn my hand against you;[b]I will thoroughly purge away your drossand remove all your impurities.26 I will restore your leaders as in days of old,your rulers as at the beginning.Afterward you will be calledthe City of Righteousness,the Faithful City.”

27 Zion will be delivered with justice,her penitent ones with righteousness.28 But rebels and sinners will both be broken,and those who forsake the Lord will perish.

29 “You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaksin which you have delighted;you will be disgraced because of the gardensthat you have chosen.30 You will be like an oak with fading leaves,like a garden without water.31 The mighty man will become tinderand his work a spark;both will burn together,with no one to quench the fire.”